perfect ten for barcelona published: wednesday 11 december 2002, 22.59cet
fc barcelona 3-1 newcastle united fc catalan class shows against sir bobby robson's spirited side.
fc barcelona maintained their unbeaten record in this season's uefa champions league with a 3-1 victory against group a rivals newcastle united fc at camp nou.
equal record the result saw the catalan side equal ac milan's ten-year record of ten consecutive wins in europe's premier club competition, thanks to goals from dani garcía, patrick kluivert and thiago motta.
delayed from tuesday shola ameobi gave newcastle brief hope of an upset, with an equaliser just after the half-hour mark in the first half, but overall, former barça coach sir bobby robson's side were second-best throughout the evening. the game was originally postponed on tuesday evening due to torrential rain, which left the pitch unplayable, but the sides took to a pitch in pristine condition.
desperate clearances the opening exchanges were played exclusively in the newcastle half and with marc overmars causing andy griffin constant problems down the left flank, the visitors were forced into some desperate clearances.
dani opens the scoring barcelona opened the scoring after just seven minutes when dani, in for the out-of-form javier saviola, met a xavi hernández cross at the far post to volley the ball across goalkeeper shay given and into the far corner of the net.
solano comes close if the catalan crowd expected sir bobby's side to fall further behind they were in for a rude awakening as nolberto solano almost drew newcastle level within moments of barcelona scoring. however, the peru international could not direct his close-range shot goalwards. ameobi brought newcastle level on 24 minutes when the young striker side-footed past goalkeeper roberto bonano from ten metres after neat work from solano and a deft pass from kieron dyer.
kluivert hits back on 33 minutes solano then saw a fierce drive from the edge of the area turned away for a corner by bonano. two minutes later kluivert received a return pass from overmars just inside the penalty area and the striker hit a low left-footed shot beyond given.
ameobi almost on target newcastle started the second half brightly and the impressive ameobi came close on 52 minutes, but his looping header, following a cross from solano, just bounced wide of bonano's far post. four minutes later the 21-year-old saw another header cleared off the line by motta.
motta makes it three barcelona were soon back on the offensive and on 58 minutes motta rose above the defence to meet juan riquelme's corner and direct a header to the back post. although dyer blocked the ball, the midfield player was adjudged to be behind the line and the goal stood.
trademark short-passing the two-goal cushion allowed barcelona to indulge in their trademark short-passing game and at times the spirited newcastle rearguard looked in danger of being overrun. however, ameobi still found the space to test bonano after muscling his way past frank de boer.
kluivert takes on given at the other end, kluivert ended the game by taking on the newcastle defence single-handedly but given stood firm to keep out two efforts as barcelona eased through the closing stages.
